Comma thick head butterfly

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Comma thick head butterfly
Comma thick-headed butterfly (male) (Hesperia comma)

Comma thick-headed butterfly (male) ( Hesperia comma )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae)
Genre : Hesperia
Type : Comma thick head butterfly
Scientific name
Hesperia comma
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The comma thick-headed butterfly ( Hesperia comma ) is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the family of the thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae).

Underside of the male
female
Underside of the female
Macro shot of the grand piano

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 25 to 30 millimeters. The wings are colored orange-brown in the first half (basal half), but become dark towards the tip. In the dark area they have several light spots. The males have a dark "comma" on the top of the forewings. This is a scented scales strip with which attractants can be sent out to prepare the females for mating. The females are darker in color and have larger spots. The underside of the hind wings is ocher yellow and also has several light spots.

The comma butterfly is difficult to distinguish from the rust-colored thick-headed butterfly ( Ochlodes sylvanus ). But the comma of the comma is usually still streaked with a silver graduation and protrudes above the wing surface.

The caterpillars are approx. 26 millimeters long, clumsy and hairless. They are dark brown, green, gray-green or dark pink in color and have a black head with two fine, yellowish stripes and a yellowish forehead triangle.

Similar species

Occurrence

This species occurs in northwestern Africa , Europe , Turkey , in temperate Asia up to the Amur and also in northwestern America up to an altitude of 2,300 meters, in Africa up to 2,800 meters. They are absent on all the islands of the Mediterranean except Sicily . They live in sunny, dry and only sparsely vegetated areas such as B. on dry grassland and rock steppes, in sand pits and on roadsides but also on alpine grasslands .

Way of life

The flight of the moths always seems nervous and hectic.

Flight and caterpillar time

The animals live in one generation per year from mid-June to August, the caterpillar season is from April to June. In cold areas such as Alaska , they take two years to develop.

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on narrow-leaved sweet grasses , but especially on real sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina ).

development

The females lay their smooth, hemispherical, white eggs individually on small grass clusters. Except in the warm regions, either the egg or the young caterpillar overwinters without eating. Otherwise the half-adult caterpillar will overwinter. The animals live in a self-made quiver made of plant parts in which they are well protected from enemies. They live on the ground and pupate there in a web of parts of plants that are spun together. The brown colored doll lying in it is frosted like wax. It is noticeable that the proboscis sheath is significantly longer than the wing sheaths.

Hazard and protection

Red list FRG: 3 (endangered)

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Heiko Bellmann : The new cosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 114.
  2. ↑ a b c Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Die Tagfalter Europäische und Nordwestafrikas , p. 272, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7
  3. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 978-3-896-24110-8

literature

  • Günter Ebert, Erwin Rennwald: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 2, Tagfalter II (Augenfalter (Satyridae), Bläulinge (Lycaenidae), Dickkopfalter (Hesperidae)), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3459-4
  • Hans-Josef Weidemann: Butterfly: observe, determine , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-894-40115-X

Web links

Commons : Komma-Dickkopfffalter  - album with pictures, videos and audio files